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Makings of a Card Mage

One day Conren was exploring Gaia. Conren saw a flyer for the Gold
Mountain Casino. "A Casino? That might be fun." Conren took the teleporter to
Gambino Island. As he headed to the Casino, he met Logan who was with a man
in a tuxedo and a man in armor.
"Hey it's Conren.” said Logan.
"Oh hi Logan, who are these two?" asked Conren.
"This guy in the tux, is Edmund. And this guy in armor, is Leon."
"Hey nice to meet you. Going to the casino?"
"We sure are." said Edmund. "Let's get going, I hear there's a
special guest there today." The four went towards the casino. When they got
there, there was a crowd outside.
"Looks like a big turnout." said Conren.
"That's because Lanzer is coming." said Leon.
"Whose Lanzer?"
"Don't be hard on the kid." said Logan. "He's new on Gaia."
"Lanzer is one of the Gaia moderators." said Edmund.
"So is he like a leader?" asked Conren.
"True." As they were talking a limo came and stopped by the casino. A
man with slick brown hair, a black suit, and a g-pin came out. Two men in
tuxedoes and sunglasses accompanied him. Every one clapped their hands at the
sight of this man.
"I assume that's Lanzer?" asked Conren.
"You'd be right." said Edmund. Lanzer waved at the crowd then went to
the casino entrance. A blue haired lady who worked there greeted him.
"Greetings Lanzer. My name is Jinx and I'll show you around. It seems
you have a large fan base." she said.
"So it seems." said Lanzer.
"Well, let's go inside Lanzer." Lanzer and Jinx went into the casino
while a crowd followed. Conren and the others also went in. Behind then there
was a man with an earpiece.
"He's in." he said. A response came through the earpiece:
"Go to your post and wait for further instructions." Inside was
packed with people.
"Let's hit the slots." said Logan. Conren noticed an area of
blackjack players.
"I'm going to play cards." said Conren.
"Okay, we'll see you later." Conren went to sit at a table that had a
blond dealer.
"Good evening. My name's Russell Ace and I'll be your dealer today."
he said. There were four other players on the same table. "Place your bets."
said Russell. During this time Lanzer and Jinx chatting.
"So what's it like being the most important man in Gaia?" asked Jinx.
At this time, one player from Russell’s table left.
"Oh I'm not that important. There are other moderators." said Lanzer.
"But wouldn't you say you're the top dog?" asked Jinx. Another player
left Russell’s table and Russell had a sweat trickle down his face.
"I wouldn't say that. But I do guide them." Another player left the
table.
"You're too modest. I like that." said Jinx. A fourth player left
Russell’s table, leaving only him and Conren. Russell was getting nervous.
"So what can you tell me about yourself Jinx?" asked Lanzer. Back at
the table Conren was winning most of the hands.
"You know... you should quit while you're ahead." said Russell.
Conren thought for a second.
"Mmmm, nah I'm good." he said.
"Come on kid, the boss is watching."
"Really? Well then he'll have to watch me win."
"Hold on Lanzer, I have to take care of." said Jinx.
"Okay, I'll just wait here then." said Lanzer. Jinx walked all the
way to Russell’s table. Jinx taped Russell’s shoulder.
"I think it's time you stepped aside." whispered Jinx.
"Alright..." Russell left.
"So what's your name kid?" asked Jinx.
"I'm Conren."
"I'm Jinx, I'll be your dealer today." Conren and Jinx played for a
while. For the most part, they were even. Jinx was impressed with Conren's
performance. "You're good Conren. Too good, I'm sorry to say."
"Why is that Jinx?" asked Conren.
"Because now you'll have to face our best dealer."
"Okay, bring him on."
"Just wait here." Jinx left and sat down next to Lanzer.
"Trouble Jinx?" asked Lanzer.
"Not anymore." she said.
"Still waiting." said Conren.
"New opponent detected."
"Who said that?" asked Conren. The machine that was shuffling the
cards during the game came to life.
"I am Cardbot. I will be your dealer."
"This is weird, but you challenged me so let's go."
"Probability of success 16.87%."
"We'll see about that." Conren and Cardbot started playing.
"So does it get dangerous in your work field?" asked Jinx. "You know,
being an important figurehead."
"That it does." said Lanzer. "That's why I brought along these two
guys." Elsewhere in the room two men in trench coats and earpieces were
talking.
"Are you ready for this." asked one of them.
"Yes." answered the other. A voice from their earpieces spoke:
"Now." it said. The two men gave each other a nod. One of them took
off his trench coat and pulled out two guns. He pointed the guns at the two
men who accompanied Lanzer. Those two men reached for their guns but were
shot down before they could pull them out. Before everyone could react to the
gunfire, the other man in trench coat pulled out an automatic and fired in
the air.
"Everyone down! We're only here for Lanzer!" he said. Then men in
black stealth suits came into the casino in all directions.
"Uh-oh." said Conren. Conren was nervous. "What can I do? The others
aren't here."
Then at a distance "G-Team attack!" was heard. Logan put on gloves
with fishhooks while Leon pulled out a sword. Edmund, Logan, and Leon started
fighting the men in stealth suits. In the fight a man got behind Logan and
was about to fire, but was knocked out by a card Conren threw. Logan noticed
and turned around.
"You surprise me Conren." he said.
"You surprise me too Logan." said Conren. Conren joined in the fight.
Then a flying robot crashed into the casino. The robot then caste a net which
captured Lanzer, along with Jinx. The robot flew off.
"A robot? Is Tech Org involved?" asked Conren.
"Dam it's got Lanzer." said Edmund.
"You three go after it." said Leon. "I'll stay back and finish up
here." Edmund, Logan, and Conren went after the robot on foot. They followed
it to a dock.
"Let's take a speedboat." said Edmund.
A shirtless man appeared in front of them. "Stop right there, you're
not going anywhere." he said.
"It's Mat, now I know Tech Org's involve." said Conren.
"Hey it's you. Are you going to try to take me down again?" asked
Mat. Conren stayed quiet.
"There's not time for this." said Edmund. "I'll take on Mat, you two
use the speedboat." Edmund charged at Mat and took him, hand to hand taking
all of his attention.
"No way! He can fight at Mat's level?" asked Conren.
"Let's go!" said Logan. Logan and Conren went in the speedboat and
took off. They saw the robot go into an island and so they followed. In their
path a large robot serpent rose from the water.
"Ah! What do we do now?" asked Conren. Logan turned and said:
"You continue onward, bub." Logan jumped on the serpent's head and
wrestled it.
"What are you doing Logan?"
"Just keep going Conren." Conren stayed on the boat as it sped off.
"All by myself?" Conren made it to the island beach and got off. He
ran into the forest. He made it to a large clearing and saw the robot that
had captured Lanzer and Jinx. Conren hid in the trees. "Okay one robot. I
think I can handle that. I hope this works." Conren pulled out two cards and
threw them consecutively. One card hit the weak point of the robot, opening
its back hatch for the second card to hit its circuits. The robot was
disabled. "Good, I did it." Conren went to Lanzer and Jinx and helped them
out of their net.
"You did a good job." said Lanzer.
"Yeah, you were great Conren." said Jinx.
"Oh it was nothing." said Conren. "I can't believe it was this easy."
he thought. Then the ground shook a little, and again, and again.
"What could that be?" asked Jinx.
"Sounds like the footsteps of a giant." said Lanzer.
"It can't be..." said Conren. A giant robot, the same model as the
one in Makihara's stronghold, appeared from the trees. Conren was spooked.
"I don't suppose you know how to deal with that?" asked Jinx.
"Yeah, I do." said Conren. "Run!" Conren, Jinx, and Lanzer began
running away. The giant robot then opened its chest plate and four cables
came out and tied each of Lanzer’s limbs. The robot then pulled in Lanzer
into it's chest and closed it. Conren continued to run.
"Do something Conren!" said Jinx. "You can't just leave him!"
"I've fought against that thing before!" said Conren. "I can't beat
it, not by myself..."
"You have try!"
"I can't do it! I'm not even a hero. I can't do this by myself. I'm
just... support..." The robot got closer.
"Do you see anyone else here to support?! You have to do something!"
"I can't do it!!" The robot then fired lasers from it's head.
Conren's leg was hit and he fell down. "I'm finished, you save yourself."
"Take a closer look." Conren looked and saw that Jinx was also hit,
and was down.
"I... I'm sorry." said Conren.
"Do something. We need you." The robot fired missiles in a line to
finish them off.
Conren thought "Am I really this useless? I can't even save one
person..."
"You may not be used to it... but today... you're the hero." Jinx's
words struck something in Conren.
"I'm not going to let it end this way." Conren's body began shacking
and the card he was holding glowed brightly. "I'm not going to be useless!!!"
Conren threw his card straight through the missiles, detonating them in mid
air as the card passed. Then the card went through the robots head like a
bullet. The robot stopped and became lifeless.
"That was amazing! You did it Conren."
"I did, didn't I? Now if you'll excuse, that last move took a lot out
of me." Conren fell asleep.
When he woke up, Conren was in a hospital bed. Outside his door he
heard a voice. "I'll go see if he's still sleeping." The door opened and a
doctor walked in. "Good, you're awake. You have a visitor."
"Um Okay." said Conren. Conren thought "Did all that really happen?
It feels like a dream. Then again, I have a caste leg as proof." Lanzer
walked in.
"Hey there, Conren right?" he asked.
"Right, hello Lanzer."
"So how are you doing?"
"I'm good."
"I wanted to personally thank you Conren. You did great."
"Oh it was nothing. But how's Jinx and the G-Team?"
"Everyone is okay. Also Jinx wanted me to give you this." Lanzer
handed Conren a book.
"What's this?"
"Jinx said it was a book on card magic."
"Card magic?" Conren opened the book and a note fell out.

Nice work Conren. You really impressed me
out there. That's why I'm giving you this
book. I'm giving you this book because you
have the makings of a card mage.

"A card mage, I like the sound of that." said Conren.